Jonathan Brookins:You know how this works. In his first post-TUF outing, Brookins needs to be built up against a relatively established vet who happens to be vulnerable against his skill-set. So, who’s a chokable, lateral-droppable lightweight who you’ve heard of, but who doesn’t have the kind of striking skills that will make Brookins look foolish? Huh. That actually doesn’t leave a lot of options among the UFC’s current roster.

This is going to sound random as hell, but I think the UFC needs to bring back Matt Veach. Though the H.I.T. Squad fighter was released by the UFC earlier this year after consecutive losses to Frankie Edgar and Paul Kelly (both by submission), he’s gone on to win three straight in smaller promotions; he was also undefeated before he came to the UFC, scoring stoppages in nine out of ten fights. I think we all want to see Brookins developed slowly in winnable matchups; still, Veach is far from a pushover.

Today’s GIF party features a couple of animated highlights from the TUF 12 Finale‘s unaired prelims, as well as the Spike broadcast. First up, the night’s only knockout — Pablo Garza’s flying-knee-KO of Fredson Paixao, which came just 51 seconds into round one and scored Garza a $30,000 Knockout of the Night bonus. As if the KO wasn’t impressive enough, check out Steve Mazzagatti flying in from 15 feet away to tackle Garza before he makes Paixao’s concussion any worse than it needs to be.

After the jump: The "Pace choke," the McKenzitine, and the stunned expessions following Phan vs. Garcia.

Garcia’s split-decision victory over Nam Phan at Saturday’s TUF 12 Finale elicited immediate chants of "Bullshit!" from the Las Vegas fans, as well as a lengthy anti-NSAC rant from Joe Rogan. Did the judges see something we didn’t? Am I just biased by the fact that Phan is a likable underdog, and Garcia’s striking is an aesthetic nightmare that I can’t stand watching?

Well, no, as it turns out. According to FightMetric’s report on Phan/Garcia, the match should have been scored a 30-27 for Phan based solely on statistical effectiveness. Phan landed more "significant strikes" in every round, with only the first round being close (33-30 significant strikes in Phan’s favor). The second round was an obvious runaway for Phan (34-13 in the s.s. department, with a brief knockdown via side-kick) and the third was also a clear win for Phan (35-21). The only advantage Garcia had was his two takedowns (one apiece in rounds 2 and 3), neither of which led to any real damage.

“Everyone expected me to brawl,” says a half proud, half sheepish Bonnar in the above vid. “I knew what I was going to do, but I kind of let on that I was going to brawl. I feel sneaky, I feel surreptitious. It feels good, though. I felt a little guilty out there for not going toe-to-toe but hey, I got the win.”

Indeed. Also, someone should tell Bonnar that it’s not “sneaky” to analyze your opponent’s strengths and weaknesses in order to devise a strategy you think gives you the best chance to win. That’s just called, you know, professional fighting.

(Above: "Remember, remember, the fourth of December, the Gunpowder Treason and plot. I know of no reason why the Gunpowder Treason should ever be forgot, brah."Below: You know what to do, honey. / Photos courtesy of UFC.com)

Welcome, fight fans, to the first leg of a liveblog double-header on CagePotato.com. The TUF 12 Finale gets rolling on Spike at 9 p.m. ET, with Team GSP lightweight finalists Jonathan Brookins and Michael Johnson battling for the highly coveted glassware, Stephan Bonnar trying to build a winning streak against Igor Pokrajac, and Demian Maia tangling with rangy TUF 3 winner Kendall Grove. Plus, five other TUF 12 vets will do their best to hang on to their UFC contracts, including Nam Phan, who clashes with hardy slugger Leonard Garcia in the UFC’s first-ever televised 145-pound feature. (Yes, the UFC has featherweights now!)

Heads up, Potato Nation: The Ultimate Fighter 12 Finale goes down tonight at 9 p.m. (8 p.m. central) on Spike TV, and we’ll be posting round-by-round updates from the broadcast. If you’re around for it, you should also check out our new buddies at Philo, a social media service that lets you discuss your favorite TV shows with other like-minded fans, discover what your friends are watching, and win awards and prizes just for sitting on your ass.

Speaking of prizes, Philo and CagePotato are co-hosting an online viewing party for the TUF 12 Finale, and you are cordially invited. Here’s what to do: 1) Register at PlayPhilo.com, which you can do automatically if you’re a Facebook user. 2) Go to Philo’s Ultimate Fighter page and click that big yellow "Check In" button. 3) Share your thoughts in the page’s activity feed during the broadcast; your comments will also be posted to your social media accounts. Each comment will count as an entry for the night’s giveaway contest, with two winners scoring a UFC: Ultimate 100 Greatest Fights DVD set. The more you comment, the better your chances are.

Doing all that will spread awareness about the TUF finale, and (much more importantly) the site you’re reading right now, so help out if you can. Any questions, let us know in the comments section below. We’ll see you tonight…

Note: In addition to the the lightweight finals, three more matches featuring TUF 12 cast-members have been added to Saturday’s finale show. Details are at the end of this post…

"Now, fuck the team," George St. Pierre says to Jonathan Brookins and Kyle Watson to kick off last night’s episode. "There’s no more team." GSP won’t be giving strategic advice to Brookins and Watson for their red-on-red semifinal match; it’s time for them to sink or swim as individuals. John Danaher says this is the fight that should have been the final, as they’re the two most talented athletes.

Watson has seen enough of Brookins to know that he loves to shoot at his opponent’s lead leg for takedowns. In practice, Watson goes over how he’ll make Brookins pay for that, with uppercuts and lead knees. Meanwhile on Team Koscheck, training has ground to a halt. Only Nam Phan is left in the semis, and everybody else is just sitting there with their teeth in their mouth, bitching about their lots in life. Marc Stevens feels like he didn’t learn much from the TUF experience, and the yellow team in general feels envious of all the great guest-coaches that GSP brought in for his guys. Sevak sort-of comes to Koscheck’s defense: "I got a lot of positive things from Josh. I expected less."

Clear your schedules, Potato Nation — this coming Saturday, the Ultimate Fighter 12 Finale (Spike, 9 p.m. ET/PT) and Strikeforce: Henderson vs. Babalu (Showtime, 10 p.m. ET/PT) will both be competing for our attention. If you haven’t visited our MMA FightPicker game in a while (which you can also play on Facebook), please swing by and test your prediction skills against your fellow fight-fans; this week’s pools include questions related to both events. For those of you who already made picks over the weekend, keep in mind that Strikeforce’s recent runof bad luck and Leonard Garcia’s withdrawal from the TUF 12 Finale have altered things a bit, so revisit your pools and make any necessary changes. The current list of FightPicker questions is after the jump. Good luck.